Teen App Control Of Social Media – Easy & Affordable

Teen app control has become one of my top priorities. It’s not so much the bullying, it’s the drama that occurs during the messaging. There have been far too many times when something inappropriate is said, or a friend decides to throw accusations. It’s stressful for me, and I’m not even the one being directly exposed to it!

Teen App Control

I have been using apps for quite a while that allows you to limit app usage. For instance, I can block the phone apps from being used during certain time periods. This works fairly easy for both Android and Apple. However, when it comes to blocking specific apps, this is where Apple gets tricky. Android, is much easier to control. My younger kids use iPods, where my older one has an iPhone.

There are two apps I’ve used for controlling my kids electric devices. One is Screen Time. I loved Screen Time, but when my older daughter moved from Android to Apple, it didn’t work so well. At that point, I switched to OurPact.

Originally, with OurPact, I used it just to control overall phone usage. I had Apps shut off after school, when it was time for homework, or other times they needed to focus on something else. This portion of the app was free.

More App Control

Then, they added the ability to set time limits on specific apps – for Apple. However, unlike many of the other Control Apps, this one allows you to control even the native Apple apps to be blocked. Apps such YouTube, iMessage, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more can all be controlled. You set a time limit per day and then set what apps you want to shut off after that time expires, or you can set specific apps to not turn on or off at all. In order to have more control over apps like this, there is a fee. There are several tiers, but I have the one that costs $4.99 a month, and allows unlimited manual blocks.

I love this app! There is also a locator, which will be very handy when she starts driving.

The one downside to this app in regard to Apple, and this is true with ANY Apple app blocking system, when it unblocks the apps they scramble. So if you child has their apps arranged in certain ways, it will move all those around. However, they are constantly updating so I’m confident they will find a fix. It is an Apple thing they need to get around.

By the way, I was not paid anything for this post. I love OurPact and the peace of mind it has given me and wanted to share that with other parents.

I’d love to hear if you use any type of app monitoring for your child!

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